"Groups that support teaching students about the evidence showing that humans are contributing to a global rise in temperatures are speaking out against West Virginia's changes to the state's new K-12 science education standards," reports the Charleston Gazette (January 4, 2015).

The dismissal of a creationist lawsuit seeking to prevent Kansas from adopting the Next Generation Science Standards on the grounds that doing so would "establish and endorse a non-theistic religious worldview" is now under appeal. The Associated Press (December 31, 2014) reports that the plaintiffs in COPE et al. v. Kansas State Board of Education et al. filed a notice of appeal with the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit on December 30, 2014.

"At the request of a West Virginia Board of Education member who said he doesn't believe human-influenced climate change is a 'foregone conclusion,' new state science standards on the topic were altered before the state school board adopted them," reported the Charleston Gazette (December 28, 2014), in a detailed story.

Wyoming's House Bill 23 (PDF), introduced on December 23, 2014, would, if enacted, repeal the footnote in the law establishing the state budget for 2014-2016 that precludes the use of state funds "for any review or adoption" of the Next Generation Science Standards.

NCSE is pleased to congratulate Patricia Kelley — a professor of geology at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, and a member of NCSE's Advisory Council — on her selection as one of four Outstanding Professors of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.